The appraisal district shortly thereafter corrected the tax allotment “anomaly” between the two lots, but the investor never made a tax payment and eventually lost the lot to a tax foreclosure.  

If you happened to be in Jimmy’s part of Florida, and he was home, you could go over to his house, where you’d have a beer with him and personally learn “working a note” , “using recreational lots as down payments” and “real estate exchanging” right at the “masters” feet.  

My guess solely looking at your numbers is that it's an older/distressed property which means you have to account for more costs in capex. 2nd thought being it's not in the best of neighborhood then you'd have to take into consideration lower quality tenants/ neighbors and maybe increase expected vacancy and late payments.

I finally understand that credit card payments are exempt from needing to send 1099's.

I have been digesting all things Real Estate so right now I am working to lower my DTI while saving at least 6-7% for the Owner Occupant down payment (to include closing cost, etc.).

Several have mentioned utilizing low down payment second home loans for qualifying.

Try to put a bigger down payment in than you might need to give yourself some breathing room.2.

They are short term loans, usually 6-12 months, high rate, interest only payments. 

I've owned and continue to own both, and there is no way someone can tell me with a straight face they spend less time getting a lender, giving them 80 documents, clarifying documents, talking to a seller, signing contracts, hiring a property manager (or managing yourself), bookkeeping, managing repairs, insurance and hoa setup, sending the lender more documents vs. vetting a sponsor and wiring money.I'm have very good luck with my rentals and I spend very little of my life on them, but that very little is STILL 5-10X what I spend on passive investments.One missed payment or eviction is added stress; you don't even hear about this as a passive investor.

The retaliation claim is completely absurd in a non-payment case, but it has unfortunately delayed the eviction process even further.I’ll look into connecting with local landlord associations and advocacy groups.